Humility & Trust

Prayer

Vulnerability of Trust

There are certain groups of people and critters that we are instinctively very protective of - because we know how vulnerable they are, how needy.

Children, of course, are a prime example. People with special needs, disabled - also very vulnerable group. And our family pets - especially the little ones.

Most of you know that we’ve been fostering kittens for several years right now. We have a batch of them right now, four of them (Scruffy, Stu, Oreo and Boots).

When we first got them, they were ragged-looking - scrawny, underweight, fur going in all directions. Dirty. Bloated bellies. They were not in good condition.

Thankfully, somebody recognized how vulnerable they were and rescued them. There’s a good chance they would have died if someone had not brought them into the shelter.

And even after rescuing them, it’s been little nerve-wracking about whether or not they would make it. They weren’t eating at first and were already underweight. Wendy’s done an amazing job with them - getting up in the middle of the night to feed them, giving them all their medications (at one point, they were on three medications). Several trips up to the shelter to get the medications. One of them in particularly, Stu (female, have no idea how she got that name) - Wendy had to give her injections of saline solution because she wasn’t eating enough.

You see all this and you realize how absolutely vulnerable these tiny little creatures are.

When you’re in a vulnerable position, when you’re in need - you have to rely on others. It puts you in a position of having to trust others, to lean on them, because you can’t cope on your own.

Of course, as we age - or get healthier, become more capable, we learn to manage on our own, take care of ourselves, provide for ourselves - so we’re not nearly as vulnerable

It tells us something about trust - by its very nature it has a humbling aspect to it because we have to depend others, it puts us in a vulnerable position. When I trust someone or something - I am leaning on them, counting on them to do good I hope they’ll do, and not harm me in some way

We put trust in our doctors - that they will diagnose us properly and provide the correct remedy. That’s why, as a society, we require that they have so much schooling and oversight.

Trust is a part of everyday interactions - in every relationship, there is question of how much I will share of myself, what do I feel safe revealing…because the question is always what others will do with what I share.

There’s a wariness there because we know there are people who will betray trust, who will take advantage of us. My friend, Bethany, almost got taken trying to rent a house in new town she’s moving to in Pennsylvania. Scams on rental properties!

When you think about trust and vulnerability in that sense, it reveals some remarkable things about what God does with his people after he frees them from slavery in Egypt. This is part of Old Testament where Israelites have been enslaved in Egypt for 430 years, Pharaoh finally relents to letting them go after God sends 10 plagues on Egyptians.

God has Moses lead his people through the wilderness, desert. Not much food and water in desert. And they’re on run - as escaped slaves - they have very little. And there are thousands of them.

It takes them no time at all to begin to clamor to return to Egypt - yeah, we were slaves, but we had food in our pots!

But throughout their time in wilderness (which ended up being 40 years because they didn’t trust God would give them the land he had promised - but that’s a whole other story), God provided for them - manna in the desert. Water from the rocks. Every time.

At the end of the 40 years, right before they are about to finally leave the wilderness and enter the Promised Land, God explains to them why he led them into the wilderness - this is so critical…Deuteronomy 8:2-3

Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the wilderness these forty years, to humble and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.

God intentionally put them into a position of need, living in wilderness, so they would be humbled (there’s our word!), to test them - to see if they would learn to rely on God.

That they wouldn’t trust food they had in any given moment in their possession - but to trust Him, his promises, what he was telling them - that’s it means to live on every word that comes from mouth of God. God said he would take care of us - and he did! We can lean on him. He’s trustworthy. We’ll follow his commands.

God is telling them this because they are about to enter promised land, land of plenty, and they are going to accumulate wealth - they’ll settle down, build homes, grow crops, raise livestock. So they will seemingly be able to provide for themselves.

As a result, temptation will be that they will forget God. They will rely on their own ability to take care of themselves. They will trust themselves and their wealth, crops and their livestock. Forgetting, of course, that they only have these things because God provided it for them.

Same is true for us. It’s one of great dangers of wealth. Or of everything in life being Ok. We are far more tempted to forget God and rely on ourselves.

Main point of our sermon series, Humble Pie, has been the necessity of humility. We need to nurture humility in our lives because it is the pro-God state of mind (as opposed to pride, which is the complete anti-God state of mind).

That is especially true when it comes to faith. To trust. And that’s what we want to talk about this morning. We all trust and rely on something - it may be ourselves, our ability to manage, it may be wealth, a certain political system, our own wisdom.

Or will we humble ourselves to trust in Jesus, what he teaches us, the life he offers us.

Andrew Murray, in his book, Humility, writes: Faith and humility are one at their root…we can never have more of true faith than we have of true humility.

Because of what faith requires. Willingness to humble ourselves, make ourselves vulnerable before others. This is why Jesus says in Matthew 18:2-4

And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them and said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”

It takes being like a child, a lowly, vulnerable child who gives themselves over in trust. That’s what is required to enter Kingdom of God. That is very definition of faith in Jesus.

Murray wrote this as well: Humility is simply the disposition that prepares the soul for living on trust.

That’s our main point this morning - is that if we grow in faith in Jesus, we must grow in humility. Because trusting in Jesus requires we willingly humble ourselves before him. That we become like little children, making ourselves vulnerable before him.

Beautiful example of Childlike Faith - Matthew 15:21-28

It’s important to understand where the story takes place - in region of Tyre and Sidon, which is Gentile territory. Jesus has gone with his disciples to get away from Jewish areas.

But his plan to get away doesn’t work - a woman from that area comes to him, crying out, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me.”

Her daughter (and by proxy she, as the mother), are suffering terribly - her daughter has been possessed by demon.

But Jesus just ignores her. He doesn’t respond to her. So she persists, crying out to disciples as well, because they come to Jesus and plead with him to send her away. Now they’re asking Jesus to respond to her and give her what she’s asking so they don’t have to deal with her crying out to them.

So then Jesus does respond - but to the disciples, not to her. “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.” He’s reminding them that his mission from the Father is not to Gentiles, but to the chosen people, the Jews.

But this woman is not giving up, she’s determined. She takes the opportunity to fall down on her knees before Jesus to plead her case.

It’s often in life when we come to face something that’s so beyond us that we’re finally humbled. We realize that relying on ourselves isn’t going to cut it - we’re desperate for help.

Teenager who finds herself with unexpected pregnancy. Parent who’s child is engaged in self destructive behaviors.

People - especially with children - going through divorce. I think about my older brother years ago who had three small children - wife just abandoned them all - trying to manage all that by himself (couldn’t, needed help).

Person who’s drowning in debt and has no idea how to get out of it.

I think about people trying to cross the border into the United States - how vulnerable they make themselves to smugglers because they’re so desperate to leave their living conditions in their home country.

It’s happening all the time, all around us - maybe right now in our own lives. We all need help - at times a lot more than others.

Here’s amazing thing about this story: Jesus turns her down! He says to her, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.”

His response is in form of an analogy - I’ve been sent to people of Israel - and if I start serving you, it’d be like the parents taking food from their own kids in order to feed the family pet. It wouldn’t be right. The kids have priority.

I don’t know if there’s any other place in Gospels where Jesus does not respond positively to a sincere request for help. But he does! What’s going on here?!

My best guess is that Jesus is testing her faith. How childlike will she be in her humble dependence? Turns out, not only is she amazingly humble, she’s very clever.

She takes his analogy and runs with it. You’re right, Lord, it’s not right to take the children’s food. But where there are children, there are always crumbs that make their way from the table for the dogs to eat. In other words, Lord, I’ll gladly take the crumbs you can give me.

Jesus loves it (he loves it when we humbly trust in him). Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted. Her daughter is healed in that very moment.

There is no one we can trust more than Jesus. Question is, will we be like children? Will we have humility to lean on him, rather than on ourselves, our own resources.

Pride (complete anti-God state of mind) binds us to trusting in ourselves (our wisdom, our ability to provide for ourselves, to protect ourselves, to manage situations)

But reality is we can’t just rely on ourselves - we rely on other people all time, we just never think about it (we’re relying on people to get supplies we need into stores so we can buy provision. Electric company to provide power. Water company to provide clean water). But even more so, we rely on God for water to be there in first place! Energy to exist. Sun to shine every morning. Air I’m breathing this very moment.

One of the reasons God will allow us to experience suffering and difficulty - why he allows us to experience our own wilderness times. Problem with Promised Land is that we forget that we need God.

Because those are times we’re humbled - I need help. I can’t do this on my own.

Every now and then, we need the extra reminder that he is one we are to rely on, that we can live on every word that comes from his mouth because he is faithful and true.

One commentator, speaking of the woman from our story wrote: “She saw in Jesus the only chance for help for her child.”

Which makes me wonder, do we see Jesus the same way? Do we see in Jesus the only chance for help? That we really are, like little children, far more in need than we realize and that he really is the only chance for help?

The only chance to overcome my issue with anger…the only chance to not worry so much and live in peace…the only chance to reconcile the strained relationship I have with my brother or sister or child...

Looking back at my own life I realize that the only thing that finally got me to surrender to Jesus (I’d been resisting him a long time) was when I finally acknowledged that I didn’t know how to live life very well. That my way was awfully self-absorbed (often still can be), but that he really was my only chance for true life. Abundant life.

Why Jesus teaches that we must be like children. Because children are in constant state of need - they come to their parents to provide their basic needs, to keep them safe, to teach and nurture them, when they get scared or feel lonely, for affirmation.

Embracing humility frees us to recognize our constant need for Jesus. Helps us to be completely open and vulnerable with him, to come to him our only chance for help - the one who can and will meet those needs.

Andrew Murray again - We did not realize that we might as well live without breath, as believe or draw near to God or rest in His love without an all-pervading humility and lowliness of heart.

Main point - need to nurture humility in our lives, because humility is at the root of faith, of trusting in Jesus.

As always, we want to hear the teachings of Jesus and put them into practice. This is where our faith gets lived out, this is how we demonstrate we trust Jesus, we’re leaning on him - by living in obedience to what he teaches us. (Willingness to engage in these practices is a demonstration of our humility before God).

Discipline of submission before God

Memorize the passage we began with, Matthew 18:3-4 - Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

Here’s another great verse, Proverbs 3:5-6

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.

Make it a daily prayer…Lord, I trust in you with all my heart. I give up trying to rely on myself. I humbly submit myself to you. Nurture in me a childlike faith in you.

Here’s another suggestion: Discipline that demonstrates the humble dependence of a child

In our spiritual formation group, we were encouraged to engage in play!

James Bryan Smith writes this about play: Jesus told us we must enter the kingdom as a child, with trust, joyful expectation and very little self-awareness. Play is an act of self-abandonment: we stop taking ourselves so seriously and simply enjoy life.

Let me finish with this -

Almost always, when we first get kittens - they’re nervous, scared. Certainly was true of this batch. When you first bring them into the house, they’re all bunched up in back of crate. Anytime you open the door to the bathroom we keep them in, they’ll go hide behind the toilet. You pick them up and as much as they can, they yowl and wriggle to get away - or they give you a little hiss (very cute).

But you feed them. You care for them. Pet them. And little by little they start to warm up. Start crawling around on your legs.

You see the transformation. They go from being very skittish, hearing the slightest noise and bolting for cover to running around without a care in world. They’re romping and playing and immediately climbing up on you when you sit down, letting you hold them.

Here’s thing. Their needs haven’t changed. They are still as vulnerable as ever and in need of help as ever.

But they have learned to trust they are under wonderful care (Wendy). That they are being watched over and provided for. They don’t run when they hear the noises in household - except when they hear the clanking of the food plates, than they come running.

This is faith Jesus is inviting us to - to be like those kittens. Jesus uses analogy of little children, same idea.

Humble reliance on Jesus. That we really do belong to him, we’re under his care. He will provide for us. He is good and trustworthy.

And it really does free us to live joyfully, playfully, in peace. It’s a great thing, to humbly trust Jesus.